Firefighter stands 'guard' during Uptown event

A Hillsboro firefighter was called to the 100 block of North High Street Friday to stand as "fire guard" during an event sponsored by the Hillsboro Uptown Renaissance Project, in the building that formerly housed Hillsboro Fire and Rescue.

Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Rick Giroux said that the firefighter was necessary to meet state fire codes.

"It wasn't an incident. It was a Festival of the Bells event they were calling the 'Psychedelic Shack,' and they were having a band there for the public. The state fire marshal's office, one of their requirements was to have a firefighter present for the band, for state fire code reasons. It was all for the benefit of the public," Giroux said.

The building was purchased from the city by Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings in 2010, prior to his election.

Hastings was unavailable for comment Monday afternoon, but Giroux said that the event was sponsored by the Hillsboro Uptown Renaissance Project and "was a supplement to the Festival of the Bells."

According to the Festival of the Bells website, the event was listed as being sponsored by the city of Hillsboro; however, Giroux said Monday that it was not a city event.

Rick Williams, of the Festival of the Bells committee, said that the event was not an official Festival of the Bells event, although he agreed with it being classified as a "supplement" to the festival.

Captain Jeff Stethem of Hillsboro Fire and Rescue said that at approximately 11 p.m., he received the order from the safety and service director to stand the fire watch. Stethem said he was at the location for more than an hour and a half.

Giroux said there was an understanding that if the department received an emergency call that Stethem was to leave to handle the emergency.

Stethem said that according to his experience and training, his interpretation of a "fire guard" is "when you have a building (with a sprinkler system) or alarm and that system goes down, or something incapacitates the system, then we advise the occupants or residents of the building to have a fire watch. That amounts to every half hour or so, you walk through the building and make sure there is nothing on fire."

Stethem said that the department does not normally stand as fire guard for private entities, and when asked if they would perform it for a public building, Stethem said that would be up to his supervisors.